Can a Game Review be Too Late?

I’m thinking of trying something different. Since I returned to my blog I’ve already branched out into talking about table top games , and since I became a dad the perspective from which I write has shifted somewhat. Yet there is still one more thing I want to try: game reviews.

I have never written a review before. I have plenty of reasons why I’ve not thought of doing it before. Firstly, reviews have always felt like a professional writer’s task. My understanding is that reviewers lock themselves away with a game for a long weekend, surging through a game at break-neck speed to meet a deadline. Every week, a new game and a new review added to the catalogue.

But does that matter? It’s nice to know the reviewer has experience, but a review is a stand alone thing, the only reason that a series of reviews are useful is for context. It allows us to see how the reviewer scores games, what a 3 out of 5 actually means from that author, what kinds of games score higher with that reviewer, etc.

Secondly, between teaching, renovating the house and landscaping the garden, raising my daughter and fitting in my other hobbies where I can, it usually takes me a while to get through a game. I could never keep to a schedule of writing reviews.

But that might actually be a good thing.  A person writing a professional review has to write at a pace to reach a deadline, which is bound to affect their judgement. Writing a review for a game that was played through steadily over a course of a month might actually be more informative, especially if that is how most “grown-up” gamers will have to play the game between work and other responsibilities.

Thirdly, and probably most importantly, I never play a game when it is released. By the time I get round to playing through a game, it has been out long enough that the price has dropped. Playing so sporadically means that I rarely reach the top of the list of games I’d like to play. I will always be behind the times.

But that’s true for a lot of people. Lots of people want to read reviews when a game comes out because they want to know if they should play – stating the obvious I know – and reviews get written ASAP to meet that need. However, lots or people will read a review later, because they are finally ready to play the game or they can afford it past them by the first time around. That’s usually why I go to reviews.

So with all the reviews that tumble across the internet as soon as a game is released…

…is there room room for a Late Review? For those that never got around to trying a game, or were talked out of playing by fresher reviews, it would be a chance to try something they might have missed out on. For people that already played and moved on, the Late Review would be a chance to reflect and discuss the game.

I’m quite happy with my current brand of ramblings on gaming, but I’m already starting to write about new things – Dungeons and Dragons, being a gamer and parent – since I returned to blogging and curious to see what else people would find interesting.

Would you read a Late Review? Would the fact that I’d played the game at a ‘normal’ pace make for a more appealing review? Or is an early review the only kind that matters? Leave your thoughts below.

Thank You For Reading.

Written by Rufus Scott.

Twitter: @RSGPeak
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